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IMS-050 Waveshaper
The IMS-050 Waveshaper is the only mass-produced mobile suit made by the Independent States of Oceania. It is piloted by Jun Sinclair and various other ace pilots. It appears in Mobile Suit Gundam: Three-Way War. Technology and Combat Characteristics Following The Great Separation, each of the following power blocs has sought to make a general purpose mobile suit, with the ISO taking a different approach to both of the other power blocs. While the AEF modernized the already existing Trident models, and the FAL making a new mobile suit frame based on the Trident, ISO decided to make an entirely new frame. The Waveshaper's demo model was finished in AE 0037, with mass production beginning in AE 0038. The Waveshaper is the culmination of the limited mobile suit development that occurred in the previous Earth Federation. The Waveshaper features a new alloy of armor combined with already existing reactive armor previously used on main battle tanks. The reactive armor protects the unit from HEAT and HE shells from various vehicles and even mobile suits by exploding itself to counter the shell's impact. The Alpha-Titanium Composite Armor alloy used is a progenitor to the more durable Beta-Titanium, and it is more effective compared to the standard titanium alloy used by AEF forces, but in turn it is more expensive to manufacture, limiting the amount of mobile suits produced to several hundred. This in turn requires clever use of the suits themselves due to their high price. The armament is comprised of conventional weaponry, albeit recent and not derived from MBT weaponry. The S5 machine gun is the first heavy machine gun of this high caliber, and features a high rate of fire at the loss of accuracy and a slight loss of firepower, making short bursts preferable over full auto fire. The pair of impact grenades that the Waveshaper is equipped with have a large explosion radius, being ideal for wiping out military installations and some mobile suits. The most unique piece of weaponry is likely the carbon blade that oscillates at a high frequency, improving its effectiveness. Once the ISO started losing the war, the existing Waveshaper '''has been refit into the '''IMS-50K Waveshaper Kai, which features beam weaponry based upon stolen plans from the AEF. This was also to make a backup unit capable of using beam weaponry in case the IMS-100 project failed, which it did in the end. Armaments * Stainen S5 Heavy Machine Gun ** A machine gun with a caliber of 95mm, this is a very viable and effective weapon for a mobile suit. Featuring a high rate of fire and decent firepower, it is in turn compensated by poor accuracy from longer ranges and overheating issues if fired for too long. As such, it is highly recommended to use short, concentrated bursts instead of the full auto mode present in the weapon. * Impact Grenade ** An up-scaled model of the standard impact grenades used by the ISO military, these grenades explode on impact. Easy to manufacture and having a large explosion radius, these grenades are ideal for destroying buildings and strategic areas. * Carbon Vibro Blade ** Also called the CVB, this blade is oscillating at a high frequency to increase the cutting strength of the carbon blade. While this kind of weapon was planned to be used on the Trident, heat weaponry was picked instead. Compared to a standard heat sword, this vibro blade is less capable of cutting through armor, but it is easier to produce and to manufacture.